Hydrogen permeation behavior and mechanism of Cr2O3/Al2O3 bipolar oxide film under plasma discharging environment

To improve the thermal stability between aluminide and stainless steel substrate and obtain thermodynamically stable phase of alpha-Al₂O₃, a new Cr₂O₃/Al₂O₃ bipolar oxide barrier was proposed, in which metallic Al was sputtered on the preoxidation coating of electroplated chromium and then oxidizing by oxygen plasma. It was found that Cr₂O₃ film exhibits P-type semiconducting properties while Al₂O₃ acts as N-type. Hydrogen discharging plasma was used to simulate the in-pile hydrogen permeation. Raman spectra and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were employed to analyze phase structure and surface morphology. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and Mott–Schottky were utilized to qualitatively evaluate effective thickness and the integrity for the oxide film. The depth profile and surface chemical states of involving elements were analyzed by auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. The result shows that Cr₂O₃/Al₂O₃ bipolar oxides have improved hydrogen permeation resistance and would be a potential candidate for barrier application.